Author Archives: Hap Rocketto

I have been going through my annual ammunition testing and noticed that the lubricant on Lapua, which I am experimenting with for the first time, and my tried and true Eley are quite different. Lubricant on a .22 cartridge is … Continue reading →

The Bishop’s Boys Blast Away… I am sure that we have all shared the experience of finishing a conversation and, as we walk away, of thinking of the perfect reply to a question or barb too late. The French call … Continue reading →

ENDURANCE RECORDS-SHOOTING AND BASEBALL… Sitting on my bookshelf is a gift from the late great Art Jackson, two deformed metal discs. One is a 1947, the year I was born, Mexican one peso piece with a hole shot through it on the circumference, the … Continue reading →

In more than fifty years I have at last come to grips that my shooting forte may not be with the firearm but with the typewriter. I’ll leave no legacy of strings of range victories. My contribution to the sport … Continue reading →

A BIG BANG THEORY OF SORTS… Our regular Friday morning breakfast meeting happened to fall on October 9th in the middle of Fire Prevention Week and the anniversary of the Great Chicago and Peshtigo Fires.Considering the occasion, I raised the question of what might happen if a shooter’s home suffers a fire to … Continue reading →

HARDLEY A MAN IS STILL ALIVE…  Miss Mowry was at the board writing, in a graceful Spenserian hand, our English assignment for us to copy. Ham handed as I was my cursive scribble resembled more of a rat’s nest in … Continue reading →

MARINES HAVE LANDED AND THE SITUATION  ISWELL IN HAND… As I sat at my desk the usual New London High School cafeteria midday feed, a hearty 25ȼ grinder, a couple of  3ȼ half pint cartons of milk, a bag of State Line potato … Continue reading →

The Price Of Basic Necessities… I was searching the Internet for some arcane information when I came across an article entitled The Cost Of Basic Necessities The Year You were Born. Never one to pass up an opportunity to fill any … Continue reading →

DOWN RANGE IS NO PLACE TO BE…. The memory of the first highpower round I ever shot at Camp Perry is still sharp. It was August 18, 1975 and the Members’ Cup required 20 shots. Standing on the 200 yard … Continue reading →

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT… It took my brother Steve years to establish a rifle team at the high school where he taught physics. One of the strongest arguments offered by his opponent on the Board of Education was emotional: … Continue reading →

  A Distinguished Scout… I enlisted in the Connecticut National Guard to shoot on the rifle team and actual military duties were the furthest thing from my mind. Assigned to Company C, First Battalion, 169th Infantry based in Middletown, Connecticut, … Continue reading →

640 hits or 36 Hitless, Sort Of The Same Thing… ​The 26th of May was a sunny start to the Memorial Day Weekend and I was wielding my power washer while adhering to, depending on your literary bent, either Voltaire … Continue reading →

  RANDLE’S RHODE ISLANDRIFLE RANGE RELATIONSHIP… Rhode Island is a small state, to be absolutely accurate it is more than just a small state, it is the smallest state. Despite its diminutive size, it is but 48 miles from north … Continue reading →

  HAP, JAKE, TOMMY, AND MALCOLM… During the 2017 Roberts Trophy Match we took a side trip to visit a few of the historical spots that dot the bucolic English country side. Heading west from Bisley we soon arrived at … Continue reading →

ITS TOMMY THIS AND TOMMY THAT….. Life, like a busy main street, is full of intersections. Outside of my family, shooting and aviation are my main preoccupations, with Red Sox baseball and America’s Cup yacht racing following. Recently three of … Continue reading →

  LIKE A FIDDLER ON THE ROOF… Few sports are more traditional than the shooting sports. We have been doing things the same way for a long time and the traditional way of doing things borders on sacred to many. … Continue reading →

Monophthongs, Diphthongs, And Firearm Terminology…   My daughters, like most of their contemporaries, are avid Harry Potter fans. At one time the English edition was published in advance of the United States edition. Before the practice stopped I ordered English … Continue reading →

LIKE FRED AND GINGER, WE WERE CHEEK TO CHEEK… When I was a kid, growing up in the shank of the 1950s, there were two great debates that filled miles of column inches in New York City’sDaily Mirror, a tabloid … Continue reading →

SHOOTING’S CARROLL HARDY… My shooting running mate Shawn Carpenter’s favorite sports teams, outside of rifle teams that is, are the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. In fact, he is responsible for bringing me back to baseball after … Continue reading →

PARTS IS PARTS ANDPIECES IS PIECES… From my perspective the 2019 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Prone Championship may best be distilled by a novel, a TV ad, and a book of the Bible. The first is Frankenstein; or The Modern … Continue reading →

Roman Slings And Pains… I have always been amused by the M1 cultists that post on the CMP website. After obsequiously knuckling their foreheads to the CMP staff they gloatingly post long lists and photos of surplus firearms they have … Continue reading →